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PhD Position in cell modelling at UPC, Barcelona Spain

We have an open PhD position to study the mechano-chemical organisation of cells from a physical and mathematical point of view. Individually or collectively, cells move due to mechanical and chemical gradients and doing so they self-organise in very specific forms. Understanding the physical laws under mechano-chemical gradients can head to establish new protocols in the control of cell structures. The final goal of the project is to manipulate cells so that the morphology of cell structures can be predicted, e.g. in biological-based prosthesis.

The eventual candidate will work in a newly established and young research group in the field of mechanobiology under the supervision of Dr. Pablo Saez (http://www-lacan.upc.es/saez/), at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. The lab is part of a broader group with focus on numerical methods in engineering (http://www-lacan.upc.es/). The candidate will also collaborate with Prof. Marino Arroyo (http://www-lacan.upc.es/arroyo/) with a broad expertise in numerical methods and cell mechanics. The project is related to a recently granted European Research Project on the mechanobiology of cells at different scales.

The eventual student will work at different scales of the problem. Depending on the candidate’s background the work will be more related to theoretical or numerical developments required to accomplish the project. Therefore, we are looking for students with a wide background of knowledge, with a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering, physics or applied mathematics. The candidate should be a highly dynamic and eager student looking forward expand his/her current knowledge on the field of cell mechanobiology. Biological background is not necessary. The candidate is expected to have a high profiency of the English language, both written and spoken.

Interested candidates should send a motivation letter and the CV along with the academic transcript to pablo.saez@upc.edu. We aim to start the project after the summer of 2017 at the latest. We encourage any interested candidate to send his/her application as soon as possible.